Communicate More Effectively
Understand Communication Elements: The Outcome in Communication
- Learn to consider the importance of outcomes in a communication interaction.
- Learn to recognize multiple desired outcomes in any given interaction.
- Learn to think of outcomes as one element of the ongoing process of communication rather than as merely an endpoint.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know when you’ve arrived.” -- Bianca Bernstein, Counseling psychologist, 2021
“To communicate is to influence with intent” — Berlo, communications scholar, 1960
The outcome refers to the end-point of an interpersonal exchange. Multiple factors influence outcomes in communication, including your personal characteristics [see You] and those of the other person [See Other], your relationship with that person [see The Relationship], and the words and expressions [see The Message] you use. Identifying in advance what you want to achieve from a particular interaction can help guide you in the communication process. Whether you are pursuing one objective or many, obtaining a desirable communication outcome will require clear thinking about what’s really important to you, as opposed to what might seem easy and comfortable.
Self-test
Your outcome is most easily undermined by:
- A. not identifying the outcome you want from a communication exchange
- B. not considering all of the important elements, including the people involved, the context, etc.
- C. saying the wrong thing
- D. not trying at all
Although we may not always think of it in this way, communication is inherently a goal-directed process. We do not often engage in communication with another person simply to refine our use of language or practice turn-taking. At the same time, it is easy to communicate without even thinking of your desired outcome. Dedicating a small amount of time to considering your intentions in advance will go far in terms of achieving your goals. The information below is designed to help you understand the outcome element of the communication process. By giving thought to the outcomes you want from your interactions, you will understand how to communicate more effectively.
There is a good bit of debate among communication scholars as to whether our communication goals are conscious or unconscious. The truth is that given the type of communication interaction you are engaged in, you will likely have a number of goals, some of which will be central to the construction of your message, and others that will not be as obvious to you. Whatever the case, the purpose of this module is to help you become more aware of your multiple goals in any communication interaction.
Asking yourself a “miracle question” might help you identify your desired outcomes. Let’s say you have decided to talk to your annoying labmate Paul who always seems to ignore you when you walk in. Ask yourself, “If I woke up tomorrow, and a miracle happened so that the situation with Paul was resolved, what would I see differently?" "What would the first signs be that the miracle occurred?" “How did my conversation with him help?” Given your answers to those questions, what will be your objective for your communication with Paul? When you think about the outcome you hope for, you might realize that letting your anger spill out might not get you there.
Multiple outcomes
Whether you realize it or not, each communication interaction likely has a number of desired outcomes. Awareness of various desired outcomes can influence how you decide to approach your communication interaction. Generally, your desired outcomes might include wanting to:
- Inform (e.g., sharing your research findings with others)
- Gain information (e.g., soliciting ideas about how to proceed in an experiment)
- Persuade the recipient to:
- Follow your advice (e.g., sharing your experiences with the incoming cohort)
- Assist you (e.g., asking for help with data analysis)
- Grant permission (e.g., asking the graduate director for a course over-ride)
- Provide support (e.g., hear from others who have experienced a similar challenge)
- Create a good impression (e.g., proving to your advisor that you are capable of working independently on a research paper)
- Understand the issues being discussed (e.g., sending a follow up email after an intense research meeting)
- Share an activity (e.g., engaging a colleague to come with you to a research presentation)
- Change the relationship (e.g., building, ending, or maintaining ties with your cohort or research team)
- Be heard or vent about something that is bothering you (e.g., voicing disagreement with sexist remarks that go on in the lab)
- Overcome fears or try something new (e.g., assertively making a request)
Additionally, your emotions play into the formation of these desired outcomes and affect the way you communicate to achieve those outcomes.
Primary and secondary goals
Identifying your desired outcome is likely not a simple process because any interaction can have a number of outcomes, each of which might require a different approach. Making progress toward one outcome (such as changing a relationship by becoming friends with a labmate) can often delay or subvert progress toward another goal (such as completing your project together since you have a new relationship dynamic to manage). These simultaneous (and sometimes competing) goals/objectives are referred to as primary and secondary goals.
One way to distinguish between the two is that primary goals can be thought of as exerting a “push” or compelling someone to act while secondary goals exert a pulling back or restraint on the most efficient course of action. Goals are also often guided by the priorities you set for yourself. For example, you may choose to prioritize completing your project (primary) and need to set boundaries on the friendship (secondary) if the relationship is getting in the way of your work.
Consider another example:
After weeks of having to clean dirty kits before running your experiments, you come in for a busy day in the lab to see your labmates goofing off on the computer, ignoring the sink full of used kits.
Your primary goal (e.g., getting labmates to clean up after themselves) may compel you to use the most efficient means of communication available to you (e.g., giving them a stern lecture). But your secondary goal of social appropriateness places constraints on the way you choose to communicate in any given circumstance. Thus, you might end up sitting down with your labmates to discuss shared responsibilities.
The variety of desired outcomes you may have are not the only consideration, however. Others’ desired outcomes may be compatible with yours (e.g., sharing the workload to be included as an author on a publication) or they may interfere with them (e.g., needing more time on your lab report when your professor expects you to meet deadlines). Anticipating what the other person wants increases the likelihood of achieving your desired outcomes as well because you can structure your communication in a way that also recognizes their needs. See Consider Other Perspectives for more.
Sometimes, through the course of a conversation (and in realizing the other person’s objectives) your desired outcomes will change. For example, in your meeting with Dr. Shumaker to get feedback about your draft of a paper, you intended to ask Dr. Shumaker to be your advisor. However, when she mentions that she is interviewing for another job, your desired outcome changes to simply getting her feedback on this paper.
Not to worry, objectives are highly adaptable and change all the time. By focusing on your primary and secondary objectives (and perhaps longer term goals) you can quickly shift your communication to meet your needs and the needs of the situation.
Assuredly, in your many communication interactions, some will result in your desired outcome and others will not. You should take both the successful attainment of goals and the unsuccessful ones as information with which to assess your communication skills (although not succeeding is not always a result of lack of skill) and reassess your desired outcomes. Whatever the case, the outcome is not the end; each outcome serves as a beginning point for new communication interactions.
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Berlo, D. K. (1960). The process of communication. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Burleson, B., Metts, S., & Kirch, M. (2000). Communication in close relationships. In C. Hendrick, & S. S. Hendrick (Eds.), Close relationships: A sourcebook (pp. 244-259). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781452220437.n18
Burleson, B.B., & Planalp, S. (2000). Producing emotion(al) messages. Communication Theory, 10(2), 221-250. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2000.tb00191.x
Dillard, J. P. (1997). Explicating the goal construct: Tools for theorists. In J. O. Greene (Ed.). Message production: Advances in communication theory. (pp. 47-69). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Graham, E. E., Barbato, C. A., & Perse, E. M. (1993) The interpersonal communication motives model. Communication Quarterly, 41(2), 172-186. https://doi-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1080/01463379309369877
Meyer, J. (2009). Effect of primary goal on secondary goal importance and message plan acceptability. Communication Studies, 60(5), 509–525. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510970903260343
Smith, E. (2006). The strength-based counseling model. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(1), 13–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000005277018
Wilkins, K., Bernstein, B., & Bekki, J. (2015). Measuring communication skills: The STEM interpersonal communication skills assessment battery. Journal of Engineering Education, 104(4), 433–453. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20100
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